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 Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 6:58 pm
His swimming trunks were purple. Not just purple but a richly vibrant purple that sort of set off the highlights his blue skin got in the sunshine. Darsh was of the opinion that he looked particularly handsome in them, and had spent ages and ages picking them out when they'd gone shopping.
The blue boy strutted along the sand, letting the waves flirt with his toes. He could see his family in the distance, far enough away that he could pretend not to know them but close enough so he wouldn't get in trouble for wandering off. Why they had to bring his two little brothers to the beach and spoil everything was beyond him. But in the end, it didn't really matter. The sun was out, the water was the perfect temperature and Darsh looked very swank in his new swimming duds. All in all it promised to be a very good day.
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 5:46 am
The cut on his hand was smothered in neosporin and a waterproof bandage and Fish had a feeling it was going to be a Good Day. He headed down to the beach and took Ophelia's surfboard with him, certain that she would be practicing painting all day and wouldn't mind if he took it out for a spin. He couldn't understand why his father and sister would want to spend a pretty day like this cooped up inside, but it was painter stuff, and Fish didn't understand painter stuff.
He bounded down the beach, though he had to pause every so often to adjust his grip on the board, and finally got to a place where he could put it down in the sand for a moment. He sat and looked out at the ocean, inspecting the waves. He didn't know much about it but he thought it was, in addition to being a Good Day, a Good Day For Surfing. He could sort of feel it in his ones.
He looked up and down the beach, just to see what was going on, and incidentally spotted a familiar blue boy not too far away, standing by the water's edge. Fish gave the surfboard a warning glance like it was a dog he was telling to stay put, and bounded down the beach.
"Darsh!" he called, and then, "Your swim trunks are purple."
That was Fish, master of the obvious.
"They are really purple."
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:43 am
Upon hearing his name, Darsh turned. He recognized Fish immediately and gave the other boy a wide, confident and happy grin. Fish had grown too! That was pretty handy.
"Yeah, aren't they great?" He asked proudly in response to the swimming trunks comment. In truth, not everyone liked colors to be as bright as Darsh did, but that didn't matter. He knew he looked awesome and was just waiting for Fish to agree. "Is that yours?" He added, nodding towards the surfboard stranded further up the beach. "Do you know how to use it?" Darsh had never been surfing. But it looked like fun when other people did it. Maybe Fish would show him how.
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 2:44 pm
"I guess they're cool," said Fish. "They are really, really purple."
He beamed and patted the surfboard happily. "Yes!" he said, and then looked a bit sheepish. "Actually, um, no. It's Feely's. But she's busy so I borrowed it."
The board had begun to slip and he shifted it under his arm. "I sorta know how. Feely was teaching me. I can stand up! For a little bit. It's a lot of fun."
"Whatcha doing here?" he asked curiously after a moment's pause. He was pretty sure Darsh didn't live near the beach, so maybe he was here with his family? Fish tried to imagine Darsh's family. Maybe they had blue skin, too! But then again, he was just as used to children looking nothing like their parents as he was to them having anything in common. Ophelia looked a good bit like Prosper but Fish knew he certainly didn't.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:14 am
Darsh made a wrinkly distasteful face at the question. "I'm here with my family." He answered, proving Fish's theory right, though he didn't look terribly pleased. With a half-hearted gesture he indicated the small group of four that was a little ways away. It appeared, from the distance, that there was a partially built lumpy sandcastle by the beach blankets and the faint sound of outraged howling could be heard. That would be Warren.
"Wanna go out into the water?" He asked as a change of subject. His family was embarrassing. Warren was always crying, Hayden - while impossible not to love - had that weird speech impediment. And both of his brothers took the attention away from Darsh, which he could hardly approve of. "I haven't been in yet." He added temptingly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:59 am
"Yes!" said Fish enthusiastically. Did Darsh really even have to ask that? He ran out into the shallows ahead of his friend and set the board down in the knee-deep water.
"Come on!" he called back to Darsh as he dragged the board through the waves by the nose.
"You do know how to swim, right?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:05 am
What kind of question was that? Darsh grinned and puffed his chest out proudly. "Yep, I know how to swim!" As long as there weren't boys around who tried to drown him, that is. Darsh was fairly certain that Fish was not about to try and drown him.
"I've never been on one of those before, though." He added as he followed his friend into the water. It felt great and Darsh was able to forget about his family for a little while and focus on Fish, who was paying him attention.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:15 am
Fish paused between sets of waves to look back at Darsh. He frowned. Ophelia had warned him that if he damaged her board in any way, he'd have to pay to fix it.
"Feely might not be happy if I let anyone else use her board," he said carefully, before hopping onto the board and starting to paddle further out into the waves.
"But you can watch?" he called back.
Maybe he'd let Darsh use the board anyway. He didn't think it could break that easily.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:08 am
If there was one thing the little blue boy did not like it was being told "no." He crossed his arms, a stormy expression crossing the face that had been open and cheerful only a moment ago, watching Fish paddle the board into the waves. The thought "I hope he drowns" crossed the mercurial boy's mind, although he didn't really want Fish to drown. Not really. Wading a little ways further into the water until it came up to his knees, Darsh kicked at the bottom sulkily.
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:39 am
It quickly became apparent to Fish that Darsh was not following. Sighing, he sat up on the board and swiveled it around.
"Come on, Darsh!" he called, and tried to think of what he could have possibly said to make his friend so sulky. Oh. Right.
"You can ride it," he shouted. "I promise you can ride it you just can't tell Feely I let you just come on!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:15 am
Vain and self-centered though he was, let it never be said that Darsh was not a good friend to those who were good friends back. His sulky expression cleared immediately and he burst into a smile that made the sun seem to shine even brighter.
"Sweet! I won't tell." He waded out towards Fish and the board, his enthusiastic splashes getting them both even wetter as he drew nearer. "Thanks." He added. You were supposed to say thanks to people who gave you what you wanted.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:54 am
"You're welcome," said Fish awkwardly. He reached down and undid the velcro holding the leash around his leg. He held it out for Darsh to take.
"Put this on," he instructed. "Around your ankle."
He slid off the board and into the water beside the other boy. "Your left ankle, probably. Are you right handed? If you're right handed it goes on your left ankle, and if you're left handed it goes on your right. Unless you're goofy, but that's sorta like being left handed and it doesn't happen very often."
"It means you stand with your feet kinda funny," he said, and patted his hand on the top of the surfboard. "You got that leash on yet?" he asked, only the least bit impatient.
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Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:57 am
Darsh obediently attatched the leash to his ankle and grinned. "It's on." He looked at the board, then at Fish. "Could we do it together, d'you think?" The board seemed like it might be long enough to hold both of them, and Darsh didn't have a clear idea of what surfing really was. He just knew he hadn't wanted to be left out. But everything was more fun with friends, and maybe he and Fish could ride the thing at the same time.
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Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:40 pm
Fish shook his head. "It'd be kinda awkward," he said. "Feely used to paddle around with me on the nose, but that was when I was really little."
Actually, Ophelia had paddled around with him and Crowley both sitting on the board, but he didn't think that was a terribly important detail.
"When the wave comes, you have to paddle as hard as you can," he explained, and demonstrated by taking a few strokes. "And as soon as you feel like it's under you you have to stand up. You'll feel it when you've got it."
He smiled.
"And that's all there is to it!" he proclaimed.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:20 pm
The blue boy was loathe to admit that he might not be amazing at something right off the bat. But his dubious expression conveyed his reservations for him. "Just... stand up. Thats it?" It sounded too simple. Then, with a shrug, all his doubts were gone and he gave Fish a shining grin. "Alright. Can't be that hard, right?"
He was fairly certain that he was doing it exactly the way Fish had explained it. But when it came time to stand up he barely made it to his knees before he was knocked headlong into the water. Darsh came up spluttering and coughing - he was not the greatest swimmer.
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